The add-hoc nature of these newsletters generally means they don't have a theme as a rule but this one has kind of gone down that route more by circumstance than design. The theme if you will is improving and upgrading - whether thats the sim or your skills.  It's probably some subconscious response to Simon taking real flying lessons that reminds me the roof needs ’upgrading’! :)

No sooner than John 103 had created UKDirect Air Taixis for shuttling about the UK he then goes jaunting off on some hare-brained round-the-world excursion, not only that but half the UKDirect pilots followed him to see where he was going! I’m sure Simon's got something to do with this! :)

In case anyone is getting as confused as I am over the assigned pilot numbers (or more likely worried that we have two Simon Pals!), allow me to explain: as we typically get a dozen or two new joiners every month who then just disappear we subsequently have large gaps in the roster numbers. I suggested new recruits start with lower numbers to fill the gaps. After a short committee meeting we typically ended up with an answer that nobody wanted :D A few of our crew wanted to change their numbers thus Simon is now 102, John 103, Garry 105 etc. and new joiners start at 500+! 

FYI According to site analytics carried out by the website host we are averaging just under 500 hits per day and in May actually peaked over 500 for the first time. Corks popping in the background. Most of these are from the Chinese search engine sogou.com which translates literally as Search Dog. but as far as I'm aware we don't have any Chinese pilots. Time to brush up on my Mandarin!

STOP PRESS
In the days leading up to publishing this newsletter came the terrible news of the 2nd Malaysian aircraft incident. In the real-world news section I tend to focus on accidents that are relevant to us as simmers or are amusing, have a local interest, or to show the similarities between real and simulated incidents. However fatal accidents appear here if they are of a wider public concern as well. UKDirect wishes to join the rest of the world in expressing its sympathies to all affected persons.

Newshound aka Mark UKD171

“ Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'! “
Audrey Hepburn
 

UKDirect Air Taxi Beech Baron 58  G-BGDE  is being flown by John May UKD103. Here he is on the approach phase towards Kushiro (RJCK), Japan completing one of the many legs of the Air Taxi World Tour. This is the pay-ware model by Carenado but the FSX and FS9 default equivalents are in our fleet so anyone can join in. The routes are flyable with FSAirlines to boot! If you want to track their progress then visit the forum by clicking here.

Do you have a screen shot you are proud of? Please send it in and share it with us.
To enter in the next e-magazine send your entries to Newshound: mark[at]planecrazy.me.uk 

Don't worry about editing pictures, sending them as a full size bmp is best and I’ll edit them for Directions

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It’s been a busy period in the paintshed and I’ll just get straight into it, some of these have had extra documentation included when time has permitted and I’ve also been experimenting with auto-installers to help the less experienced. Where included you just have to point it to the main FSX folder.


As always go to the Fleet page to download them and if you experience any problems or have any questions please let me know. I have been including individual documentation with the planes and in many cases this takes longer to write than the paint job, I hope you enjoy them!

UKDirect BAe/Aerospatiale Concorde G-UKIS Lest We Forget
This package comes with an installer for FSX but can be unpacked and put into the concall.zip (on avsim.com) model by Libardo Guzman for FS9 users.

 An interesting and fun Airbus A300F4-200 by Thomas Ruth. Highly recommended. The plane has its own installer and documentation. Our A300 is one of the more modern versions but still pre-dates glass cockpit technology and is more akin to the Boeing 737 Classic. This is one of the better free-ware models and can be flown from the virtual cockpit as well as the 2D panel view.

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04 JUN 2014  Boeing 777-337ER  Air India   VT-ALT    C/n: 36318/871   First flight: ?

An Air India Boeing 777-337ER was struck by a catering truck while parked at the gate at Newark Liberty International Airport. The airplane was being prepared for a flight to Mumbai when the truck became wedged under the rear fuselage, puncturing the skin.

Next time an airport vehicle runs into you in FSX and you curse it’s lack of realism - think again!

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04 JUN 2014  Boeing 737-8AS (WL)  Ryanair   EI-DLI   C/n: 33591/1894  

A Ryanair Boeing 737, EI-DLI sustained damage to the right hand horizontal stabiliser in an incident at Roma-Ciampino Airport (CIA), Italy. Apparently the airplane rolled back about 40 m and collided with an airport fire station. The airplane was empty and parked on the apron at the time of the incident. On the day of the crash there was an unexpected strike action by Groundcare staff at the airport.

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17 JUN 2014  Socata TB-10 Tobago  Private  G-POPI   C/n: 315  

A single engine airplane struck a greenhouse in Forest Road, Guernsey, shortly after takeoff from Guernsey Airport. BBC Radio Guernsey understands the occupants are John and Lynda Shaw. Both were taken to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Mr Shaw said: “It was just about five minutes after we took off that smoke started filling the cockpit. There was no visibility and I knew we had to make a forced landing. I did not have time to think whether we were going to die, or about anything else - I just knew I had to try and do those things that I had been taught, to get us out of difficulty. Obviously, it was an extremely uncomfortable situation to be in. We’re just glad to be alive.”

Mr Shaw was discharged from hospital yesterday, but his wife is expected to remain in hospital for several days. No-one else was injured. According to some sources, the main injury sustained was to the pilot, who suffered a black eye and bruising. Emergency services worked late into the night to deal with a fuel leak from the wreckage, which could have led to an explosion. Some nearby homes were evacuated while the plane was made safe, but residents were allowed home by 21:00 BST.

The airport was closed for just over an hour while the Airport Fire and Rescue Service dealt with the crash. Airport director Colin Le Ray said the single-engine private aircraft reported an incident to the east of the airfield shortly after take-off.

"The aircraft was actually holding on a tree vertically down with its tail in the air... one of the wings had completely severed during the accident and the second wing was partially severed," said Mr Le Ray. The aircraft has been released by the insurers to be used by the Airport Fire and Rescue Service for training and has been moved to its drill site to the north of the runway.

AIRBUS A380 WATCH

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02 JUL 2014  Airbus A380-842   Qantas  VH-OQD   C/n: 026  

Approximately one hour into Qantas flight 94 from Los Angeles, CA USA to Melbourne, Australia the pilot returned the plane to Los Angeles due to severe flooding of the lower passenger cabin due to a suspected water pipe failure. The Associated Press describes the scene, saying "water ran down stairs in the cabin and dripped onto passengers seated in the lower deck. Some people were moved to drier areas of the plane."

"All of a sudden, people started jumping up and yelling because all this water was coming basically in the middle of the aircraft," Ken Cross, a passenger on the plane, tells ABC 7 of Los Angeles. "They couldn't feed us. There was no entertainment, so you couldn't keep going for 15 hours like that."

In its statement, Qantas says "crew on board did everything they could to help customers, including moving them to unaffected areas and providing spare blankets so they could stay dry."

Hollywood actress Nicole Yvette Brown, who was also on the flight, responded with usual American-overreaction when she told broadcaster CNN it was the "scariest thing I've ever seen". Err, it was water, right?

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17 JUL 2014  ca 16:21 Boeing 777-2H6ER  Malaysia Airlines  9M-MRD   C/n: 28411/84  First flight: 1997

A Boeing 777-200 passenger plane, operating Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, crashed in the Ukraine, east of Donetsk. All 298 on board were killed. Flight MH17 departed the gate at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands at 12:14 hours local time, bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was airborne at 12:30 (10:30 UTC) from runway 36C and reached a cruising altitude of FL310 at 12:53 (10:53 UTC). Ninety minutes into the flight, at 12:01 UTC and just prior to entering Ukrainian airspace, the flight climbed to FL330. This altitude was maintained until last contact by ADS-B receivers of flight tracking websites, about 13:21 UTC. At the point of last contact it was flying 1000 feet above airspace that had been restricted as a result of ongoing fighting in the area. Malaysia Airlines reported that MH17 filed a flight plan requesting FL350 throughout Ukrainian airspace. However, the flight was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at FL330. In a statement, the President of Ukraine said that he "did not exclude that this aircraft was also shot down", referring to two Ukraine Air Force aircraft that were shot shot down in the region: a Su-25 and an An-26 transport plane three days prior to the Malaysian accident. U.S. President Obama said that the U.S. government believed that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from separatist-held territory in eastern Ukraine.

Crew: Fatalities: 15 / Occupants: 15
Passengers: Fatalities: 283 / Occupants: 283

AIRCRAFT PROFILE BOEING 777
Last fatal accident involving a Boeing 777: 08-MAR-2014 Boeing 777-2H6ER 9M-MRO Malaysia Airlines - 239 fatalities (131 days ago)
Total number of hull-losses: 5 (of which 5 were accidents)
worst accident involving a Boeing 777 
Survival rate for all fatal Boeing 777 accidents: on average 36.0 % of all occupants survived fatal accidents

COUNTRY PROFILE UKRAINE
Last fatal airliner/bizjet accident in Ukraine: 14-JUL-2014 Antonov 26 Ukraine Air Force - 2 fatalities (3 days ago)
Total number of fatal airliner/bizjet accidents: 45
Total number of airliner/bizjet fatalities: 1567
worst airliner/bizjet accident in Ukraine
The country is rated Cat. 1 in FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA)

Latest iInformation (courtesy of the BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Time to get that grey matter working!. Email answers to mark “at” planecrazy.me.uk or use the message facility on FS Airlines.  Answers will be posted in the next Directions but if you email me your guesses I will reply straight away (in confidence - so no need to worry about embarrassment.

1> What is the purpose of VASI lights by the runway?
 
a)        Assisting the transition from instrument to visual flight
b)        Assisting the transition from visual to instrument flight
c)        Assisting the tracking of the localiser
d)        Assisting to view the runway from a greater distance


2> What angle is commonly used for the glide slope angle?

a)  2 Degrees
b)  2.5 Degrees
c)  3 Degrees
d)  4 Degrees


3> What is usually decided at the Decision Height?

a)   Whether the runway is free and can be landed on
b)   Whether visibility is sufficient for landing
c)   Whether one will make the landing or is too high
d)   All of the above


 

Answers to last Directions quiz:

1. What is a transponder for?
   c)      Transmit a code to ATC for identification. Aircraft have transponders to assist in identifying them on air traffic control radar; and collision avoidance systems have been developed to use transponder transmissions as a means of detecting aircraft at risk of colliding with each other.
2. What information would you expect to receive in the 108-117.95MHz range?
   a)      VOR radial. VOR stations broadcast a VHF radio composite signal including the navigation signal and station's identifier. The navigation signal allows the airborne receiving equipment to determine a bearing from the station to the aircraft (direction from the VOR station in relation to Magnetic North). The station's identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code.
3. At what distance from the runway would you find the Inner Marker?
   a)     Marker beacons are primarily used as part of an Instrument Landing System and transmit via a highly-directional aerial, the signal is received when aircraft pass directly overhead. Typically situated between the runway threshold and up-to half a mile away.

AeroExpo UK 2014

Once again this outstanding event came to my local airfield EGBK Sywell. The weather wasn’t quite playing ball this time around as last year I even got a tan whilst sat in an Aston Martin DBS convertible. A difficult task but someone had to do it.
 

It was cool to see the Baron Beechcraft B58 up close and personal. Great to see what we are taxing our passengers about in.

Now as we were strolling from stand to stand I did have a bit of an epiphany. Yes it is really a past time for the rich. And no it isn’t.

Let me explain. When you look at all the accessories and bits and bobs you can get, should you be lucky enough to own a plane in the first place, its immense. The prices can be immense as well. Almost everything is quite a price, from chocks to GPS to fuel management stuff etc. Even a flight ruler was a few quid! But I did chat to a flying school, which after a long while and posing a load of stupid questions as you would expect from me, is actually very affordable.

To obtain a NPPL (M) class license costs as much as I spent on my PC with all the FSX add-ons. Now that's pretty amazing. So much so that it convinced the wife and I that I could do this and take my hobby to new heights (no apologies for the pun).

Realistically all you need is a couple of books and a log book and away you go. You only need to get to 25 hours training and then you can go for the general skills test if your tutor thinks you can do it. As we simmers fly so much it really has helped a lot.

So at the end of the day the show was a real success and it has taken me from the chair to the sky. I can really highly recommend this show as its so nice to see what you can get and see linked to this wonderful hobby. Even if you don't want to fly for real its still a great day out for us aviation nuts.

Future Of MSFS

I would expect for most people the biggest news in the flight sim community would concern the future of the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise so let’s start there. In case you haven't heard Dove Tail Games have bought the franchise license and are now marketing FSX and all of it’s future spin-offs. I made my view of that clear on the forum so won't repeat it here. Official press release:

In addition to this licensing agreement, Dovetail Games is pleased to announce that it has also acquired the rights to distribute the multi-award winning Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition via Valve’s popular digital retail channel, Steam, entitled Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition.

First released in 2006, Microsoft Flight Simulator X is widely acknowledged as one of the most popular simulation products on the market. Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition will include the Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration Expansion Pack in one bundle. Dovetail Games will bring Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition to the Steam online gaming platform for the first time in summer 2014.

“I am delighted to be working in partnership with Microsoft as part of this agreement,” said Paul Jackson, CEO of Dovetail Games. “We are thrilled to be exploring new flight simulation opportunities using Microsoft’s technology, and look forward to using our extensive expertise of Steam publishing to successfully bring Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition to a broad new audience on the Steam platform. This partnership is perfectly timed to support our expansion into new areas of simulation.”

Steve Bainbridge, COO at Dovetail Games added, “We are very proud of the strong community we have created around the Train Simulator series of products, and we are looking forward to extending our knowledge and experience into working closely with the flight simulation community. We know that they are a very knowledgeable, passionate and committed group of individuals and we welcome their feedback and involvement as we start to create the next generation of games in this area.”

“When it comes to licensing our simulation engine, Dovetail Games is the obvious choice for us to work with. We respect their approach in terms of delivering premium quality simulation games and look forward to seeing their vision of the next chapter in flight simulations unfold,” said Kevin Perry, Executive Producer at Microsoft. “In addition to that, they have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to launch simulation products successfully via online platforms, making them the ideal partner to distribute Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition.”

 

UK2000 Jersey Extreme

UK2000 have made a new Extreme scenery for Jersey (EGJJ) - a free demo is available here :http://www.uk2000scenery

If you do decide to buy it don't forget to ask me for the UKD Discount  code for 20% off. I can't post it here as this is not a privately viewable page.
PS it's the same code as you've had before for those that have asked previously.

There is also a free photo scenery for the Island of Jersey on the website too.

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Trailer for Simon's big movie break!

Simon 102 is sometimes a little shy and doesn't like to mention “I starred in that Bond film ya’ know”, so it is Newshound’s public duty to inform you and as usual I go one step further and bring you the trailer to that film! (thanks for letting me post this Simon)